A Distant Memory
by xXKuroUsagiXx
Summary: Makoto Yuki was given a second chance in life with the memory of his past life as a price. To make matter worse, this time, he had to live as a member of Strega. As if his life wasn't hard enough. "I want to protect those bonds, all of it." Warning : AU. Rated T for safety.
1. Chapter 1

That place was very dark with malicious aura surrounding it. No human could survive there. Then again, this place was no place for human. The cold and malicious aura that eminate from the place came from such a dark entity. A monster with two bull heads. A heartless creature.

In the vast space, a golden door stood tall and a seal was put in front of it, to stop it from opening. To stop the Goddess of Night, Nyx, to descend ever again. The seal that would last for eternity. The great seal which contain the soul of a brave young man, who died to protect the world. And no matter what, nobody beside his closest friends would know about his sacrifice.

A figure stood silently in front of the great seal with tears in her eyes, thinking about this young man always made her cry. She could still remember those days they spent together, with her curiousity over the outside world, it was bound to cause him trouble. But she was happy, because no matter what, those memories were the ones she would cherish forever.

But this wasn't the time for sentimentality, she had work to do. Shaking her head, she looked up at the great seal with a smile. "I'm sorry to make you wait for so long, Makoto-sama."

The human seal didn't move. Of course he wouldn't. But this didn't waver the girl's resolve. She raised her right hand which held an evoker in it and pointed it at the human seal, right at his forehead. "I shall cut my ties with everything and take this weight that has been placed upon your shoulder onto mine."

She pulled the trigger and a small click resounded before whirlwind covered her body and the seal. When the wind subsided, a boy with dark blue hair stood in her place while she was encased in the great seal.

The boy gazed sadly at the smiling woman who was now trapped as the seal. "Goodbye, Elizabeth. Thank you for everything."

After what seemed like days of walking to Makoto, a blue door appeared before him. The key in his pocket began to glow, he grabbed it and opened the door. 'How nostalgic.'

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," the figure of Igor entered his line of vision, still sat in the wide room of blue with that eerie smile of his.

'And still as scary,' Makoto supplied quietly in his mind before taking a seat in front of the long-nosed man.

"How long has it been, since the last time we spoke like this," Igor chuckled quietly. "I see that you managed to escape the seal." Although there was humor in his voice, his eyes were filled with sadness.

"Igor," Makoto began cautiously, "why am I here? I thought my contract had been fulfilled."

"Why indeed?" Igor grinned widely at him. "What do you think? How are you able to escape the seal?"

Still as annoying as ever, Makoto thought, amused. He always talked with riddles. Then, something hit him. He remembered her. Elizabeth.

"Yes, Elizabeth," Igor said as if reading Makoto's mind, his eyes were filled with grieves once more, "she thinks that it wasn't fair for you to be there forever."

"What happened to her?" Makoto had the feeling that he already knew the answer. And yet, he refused to believe it. He denied it. That was why he needed to hear the truth from the man in front of him.

"She loved you dearly."

That was all he needed to hear to realize that what he had feared was indeed true. Elizabeth, the woman who assisted him during his journey, was no longer there. Makoto hung his head low, allowing his hair to cover his eyes, concealing any emotions. He fought to keep himself calm because this was no time for tears. But at the same time, he wanted to scream and mourn for his dear friend, who died for him.

No, it wasn't death. It was something worse than death. Trapped forever in the seal.

"She wished for a second chance to you."

Makoto didn't say anything, he didn't have the strength to do so right now.

"In one year, you have to stop Nyx revival."

Makoto listened without interupting. It was quite simple. In his second life, he would lose all his memories and restart from the very beginning. Igor didn't tell him the way to obtain his memory back as clearly as he had expected, only giving him a clue. Bonds. That was it. Igor said that he would find the how to retrieve his memory by himself.

At first, the boy refused to have anything to do with this anymore. Experiencing it once was enough. And Igor, apparently knowing that Makoto would refuse, played his last trump card.

"Should you fail, Elizabeth and the seal she has become will be destroyed."

This wasn't fair, Igor knew exactly that Makoto had no choice but to agree. He was after all indebted to Elizabeth. And with that, he found himself thrust into an open door, albeit a bit begrudgingly.

"Until we meet again, farewell." And his vision went dark.


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N. : FYI, t****his will have both MC and FeMC and ****I need help with the pairings. Please, would you all be so kind as to give me suggestion?  
**

**Also, I'm in need for a beta-reader. ASAP.  
**

**And thanks for the reviews, it really made my day! ^_^**

**Disclaimer : Persona 3 and all of its properties belong to their respective owner. I only own my plot.**

* * *

_Time never waits._

_It delivers all equally to the same end._

_You, who wish to safeguard the future,_

_however limited it may be..._

_You will be given one year;_

_go forth without falter,_

_with your heart as your guide..._

"Hmm?" In a small room, a teenage boy woke up from his deep slumber. He lay unmoving on his bed and stared blankly at the ceiling in front of him, wondering whose voice was speaking to him in his sleep. He rummaged through his brain, he didn't know that voice. Heck, he could swear he had never heard that voice before. Heaving a sigh, he reluctantly pushed himself up from his bed, frowning slightly when he realized that his white T-shirt was drenched in sweat, and sat on the edge, he must had had that dream again. The same dream that haunted his sleep since ten years ago. Gathering his energy, he stood up and walked out of his bedroom toward the room next to his.

Opening the old door, he walked inside. A small yet clean bathroom filled his vision. It used to be really dirty, the first time he moved there. But after many efforts he put up to clean it, it became sparkling clean. He couldn't help but muse how his housemates were really lucky to have him with them.

Standing in front of the wash basin, he twisted he tap and fresh water begin to flow out. He quickly washed his face with the cold liquid and turned it off once more. He grabbed the towel hanging nearby and dried his face. Looking at the reflection the mirror in front of him provided, he saw something strange. There was nothing strange about his appearance. No, what was strange was the masked figure standing behind him. He narrowed his eyes. 'Who?'

He glanced back and saw nobody there. Turning his attention back to the mirror, his eyes widened ever so slightly. The masked figure was gone. 'Perhaps I wasn't completely up, yet.'

The boy exhaled slowly and closed his eyes only to snap them open again. Just now, was that a... blue butterfly? He shook his head. It couldn't be. He was just tired, that was why he was seeing things. He needed coffee. Fast.

* * *

Inside the New City passenger train "Anehazuru", a red-eyed girl sat quietly, humming the song playing from her earphones. She had her auburn hair in a high ponytail, along with silver barrettes which form the roman numeral XXII on the left side. Her bangs were styled neatly on her forehead. She wore a normal gekkoukan high school female uniform, accented with a neck-strap mp3 player, and red clip-on earphones.

She closed her eyes, but a flash of a blue butterfly flew by, making her eyes snapped open once again. 'What was that?'

* * *

The aroma of caffeine wafted around the kitchen. The boy was sitting on the round table located in the middle of the kitchen, quietly drinking his cup of coffee. His housemates were probably outside doing what they usually did.

He glanced up at the clock. Near midnight. Sighing, he gulped down the hot liquid in his cup, burning his tongue and throat. He just ignored the pain and walked to put the cup in the sink. He would wash it later. If he remembered, of course.

He turned around and jumped slightly. 'When did she get there?'

There stood one of his housemates, dressed in her usual lolita outfit with a bored look painted on her face. "Let's go, Makoto."

'Huh? Go? Go where?' Makoto rummaged through his brain. He vaguely remembered making a promise to go somewhere tonight with her, all while fighting his sleepiness. And while he was deep in thought, the girl grabbed a hold of his arm and dragged him away.

"H-hold it! Chidori!"

* * *

The girl was thinking about the beautiful butterfly when the train came to a halt, stopping her thoughts about what just occurred.

"Iwatodai," the train intercom went off again, "This is the final train bound for Tatsumi Port Island. Please take care to board before our departure."

The girl stood up and grabbed her luggage. Closing her eyes and taking in some deep breaths, she thought with determination.

'This is it!'

* * *

**Kindly drop a review, please. Your thoughts are gladly welcomed here.**

**Ja~**


	3. Chapter 3

This place never changed no matter how many times Makoto had seen it. The way the moon shine on its place in the sky coupled with coffins lining the road always sent shivers down his spine. He narrowed his eyes as he gazed up to the sky which was painted in eerie green color. It was, for the lack of better words, very eye-catching. And it made his eyes hurt but didn't stop him from looking at it nonetheless.

He sighed, closing his eyes. Chidori just dragged him away from his warm house out to the cold street and ditched him in the middle of their journey. She did look very alerted at that time though, so he couldn't exactly blame her, even if he didn't know why she felt the need to left him. And it didn't exactly stop a migraine from coming.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Makoto twitched, hearing light footsteps coming his way. He quickly and stealthily hid behind one of the coffin.

Someone was nearby. And judging by how light the footsteps were, it was a girl's. But something didn't add up, nobody was supposed to be able to walk around during this time of the day. He held his breath and sharpened his hearing, listening as the footsteps drew near and then fading toward the breathed out and stepped away from the coffin gazing at the back of the passer-by. He could see the back of the Gekkoukan High uniform she wore.

He kept staring at her, seeing her tensed up and walked hastily in a faster pace than before. He shook his head, the girl must have been just another one who was chosen as a pray for the shadows. Just another unlucky soul. 'Insignificant.'

* * *

Minako Arisato could sense the unsettling stare disappeared as she moved further and further away. She let out a huge sigh when the dorm she was assigned to appeared in her view. She would be lying if she said she wasn't scared, it was already dark and there was nobody around.

But the dorm looked quite old with big doors as an entrance, could it really hold until she at least graduate? She would think about it some other time, if she remembered. She raised her hand to knock when it opened by itself. She blinked once. Twice. Thrice. 'Huh, that's strange.'

Moving her legs, the girl entered the dorm cautiously. It was empty. She almost raised her voice to call out whoever was on duty to welcome her but another voice beat her to it.

"Welcome."

The brunette glanced toward the source of the voice. It was a blue-haired child sitting at the reception area with his elbows on the table and the back of his wrists resting on his chins. He looked like he just came out off a prison judging by his stripe patterned clothing.

"You're late," he continued, "I've been waiting a long time." The weird little kid snapped his fingers and said, "If you want to proceed, then please sign here," the boy pointed at the dossier, which had now opened to the first page, "It's a contract."

"_I chooseth this fate of mine own free will."_

The girl bit her lower lip. There was something strange here, those kind of words are definitely not the one you would find in a contract. Moreover, did she really have to sign a contract to live in a dorm?

"There's no need to be scared," the boy smiled reassuringly, as if he knew what his guest was thinking, "It only binds you to accepting full responsibility for your actions."

"I'm not scared!" True, she wasn't scared. Unsettled, perhaps?

The boy chuckled. "Then," he gestured toward the piece of paper.

Picking the pen, Minako gingerly wrote down her name in the blank sheet. Although she was anxious, the boy seemed very pleased with her action.

"Very well." The boy told her as he grabbed the folder, "Time is something no one can escape. It delivers us all to the same end. Wishing won't make it go away." The folder disappeared into thin air while he was folding it. "And so it begins," as he said those words, he disappeared, as if melting into the darkness.

Minako blinked again, she fought to stay cool on the outside though she was screaming about how this didn't make sense inside her head. She took in a deep breath and released it a few times to calm herself. The last thing she needed was to freak out. Didn't her grandpa always teach her to never lose her composure? Not like she always heed those words, but she tried to. She always did. And all of a sudden, the brunette wished the train wasn't delayed. She wouldn't need to deal with all this abnormalities and could be resting right now if it wasn't because of that.

"Who's there?" a female voice brought her back from her thought. She looked toward the stairs, where the voice was originated from. She saw a girl with a slightly altered gekkoukan uniform – everything was there except the normal jacket, which was replaced by a pink cardigan. They stared at each other in a surprised manner. Minako because the girl brought a gun with her, and the girl for God-knows-why.

"How can you be... But it's...! Don't tell me..."

The tired girl tensed up and forced her tired eyes to open wide when the stranger's right hand shifted towards a holster strapped to her thigh, which happened to carry a gun. Her hand slowly moved to it, shaking the whole time. Just as she pulled the gun...

"Wait, Takeba," another girl stepped down from upstairs. Her hair was long and dark red, her eye color matched her hair perfectly. She wore the school uniform of Gekkoukan High, save for the Gekkoukan jacket and a different white blouse, a big red ribbon and black knee-high boots with high heels. Unlike the first girl, she had the aura of pure authority, the kind you wouldn't want to mess with.

Minako didn't know who her savior was, but she was glad she wouldn't have any hole lining her body. And as long as that didn't happen to her, she was satisfied. For now anyway.

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**A.N. : Special thanks to Megunstopable for reviewing last chapter and Jam-Man265 for the message. I'm really happy for it. It's nice to know that people actually like this story :)**

**I still need a beta-reader and I'm still not sure about the pairings...**

**Anyway, drop a review please~**


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